Sunday, December 17, 2006

Jessica Lynn Meneses Graduates with Masters Degree..

We are proud of our Neonatal Nurse Practitioner!

On Friday, December 15th, our daughter, JESSIE, who is a hurricane fan who graduated from Florida State with a nursing degree, graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a masters degree in nursing. She is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and we are so proud of her. She is a neonatal nurse at St. Joseph's in Tampa but it seems like she will be relocating to Philadelphia, Pa. to take a job as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner at Philadelphia Children's Hospital. She will have to report there in March. We will see what happens.

In the pictures, you can see our graduate. Also pictured is Jessie with her mentor, Dr. Lance Wyble, who is the Neonatologist who trained Jessie at St. Joseph's. We are all very grateful to him. Also pictured is her grandmother, "Ita" and her dad and I.

Monday, December 11, 2006

EDITOR GETS MORE THAN SHE BARGAINED FOR IN COLOMBIA!As many of you may know, I haven't felt that good since I returned from our trip to Colombia. Last week I went to the doctors and had some blood work done. Lo and behold...guess what I have! That wonderful teenage disease known as Epstein-Barr Virus and Infectious Mononucleosis...yes...the kissing illness. You can only get it from saliva....ugh!

My dear sister, Diane, reports that while I was in Colombia, I visited with Juan Valdez. Juan gave me some wonderful coffee beans. She said I must have been so grateful that I gave Juan a big kiss so I must have gotten it from him. Then she added that Juan is only seen with his horse and not a woman! I informed her that it is not a horse but rather, his burro. She states that it is even worse .......in other words....I kissed Juan Valdez's ass!

Seriously...I could have gotten it from a glass or anywhere and my immune system was run down so that attributed to it.

Anyway......at least I know why I am so exhausted. I will now go on a regimen of vitamin B-12 injections to try and feel better.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE FOR CHRISTMAS!!

Everyone should have at least one aluminum Christmas tree in their home. These trees were popular in the 1960's. My favorite memory of Christmas is sitting and watching my Grammy Krapf's aluminum tree in the bay window with the rotating color wheel casting colors across the tree. A few years ago I asked my Uncle Unky who now lives in my Gram's house, just what happened to the tree. He said he had it and I told him I would love to have it. He never parts with anything but without a word or a note, a few weeks later I had Gram's aluminum tree. My Uncle told me he had bought this Christmas tree for Gram at J.J. Newberry's which was a 5 & 10 cent store in Tamaqua, Pa.

In the meantime, my dear brother, Jay, forwarded to me a Color Wheel for my tree. I am in aluminum heaven! The year before last, my brother also sent me another antique...smaller aluminum tree with color wheel that he purchased on Ebay. I truly love my treasures.

Every home should have at least one aluminum tree!!! Thank you Uncle Unky and Jay!! I cherish these things. Here are my trees! Gram's is the big one on the patio.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Getting Ready for Santa!!

We are getting our home ready for the holidays. This year we have a forest in our living room! Thr tree is huge and real. I tend to decorate the entire house so here is a picture of our tree and there are more on the link below. I will add more to the link over the weekend.

It is time to make sure everyone who has received an antique bubble light Santa from my brother Jay has them up and lit! Jay goes around and makes sure that everyones are on but I don't think he'll make it from Pa. to Florida so here is proof that mine are working and waiting for Santa to come!! These are just like the one we had at our house as little children.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Thanksgiving....2006

Last week our family celebrated Thanksgiving.

The first picture is my son, Danny and me. The second picture is my son's FIRST plate!!

Unfortunately our daughter, Jessie, could not be with us. I cooked turkey and Debi made the pies this year. She cooked her Halloween pumpkin and made the pies from it. She helped me make the stuffing also and all around, was a big help!

Our daughter, Jessie, will be graduating on December 15th from the University of Florida in Gainesville. As many of you know, Jessie is a neonatal nurse at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa. While working many hours on regular shifts, doing transport and doing clinicals with Dr. Lance Wyble, Jessie has earned her degree and will become a Neonatal Nurse Practicioner. We are so proud of her!

Here is a picture of Jessie in the helicopter and also a picture of the fringe benefits of being a flight nurse...a beautiful sunset over the water!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Welcome to Colombia!

We have returned. Elias and I traveled to Colombia, South America this past week, along with his sisters, Magnolia and Ofelia and cousin, Diana. We visited the Island of San Andres (water pictures)for three days and the city of Medellin also. It was wonderful to meet so many of Elias' relatives...some he didn't even know and to see the love they had for us.

It was extremely hard for me to get used to people staring at me. A red head with blue eyes is quite a novelty over here.

The only thing I did not like was the traffic! Stop means go very very fast over there and there are no lanes so everyone jockeys for position within centimeters of each other. It is so bad...how bad is it? It is so bad that the gas trucks have a man in the passenger seat pulling on a string that rings a miniature liberty bell at the top of the truck so they know it is a gas truck coming through and if they hit it, it will explode!

In one of the pictures above, you will see a view down the mountains from the Metro Cable. The city of Medellin has an above ground monorail type transit called the Metro and then there is a part of it called the Metro Cable which is gondolier cars that take people to their homes that are set into the mountains surrounding the valley where the city is located. What a view! The mountains are gorgeous. The balcony picture with Elias and I is from the first day we arrived. The place we stayed was up the side of one mountain and we could look out over the other mountain.

The bus picture is from San Andres. Notice the bus drivers seat and the cleaned out bus....no dash, etc. There are also a few pictures of their Christmas decorations which they are putting up in the city now. Medellin is known for their decorations in the city and on the river and other countries bid to buy them after the holidays!

I am so thankful that I had this opportunity to take this trip. My sister-in-laws, Magnolia and Ofelia, and cousin, Diana, made sure that we had a wonderful trip! I can't thank them enough.

Last weekend was my annual trip to the Mt. Dora, Florida annual craft fair. If you have never been there, it is a must for crafters. The entire downtown is closed and the streets are all filled with vendors from all over the United States. It is a wonderful event and we spend two days there. Here are some pictures including my friends Barbara Helms, Nancy Kirmani, my sister-in-law Noehmi, Barbara's friend Judy Hand and Barb's mother-in-law, Mrs. Helms.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

When I was a child, I lived behind the main street in Tamaqua, Pa. I would often go through the back door of a restaurant called the Palma Maria that was owned and operated by the Rosinola family.

The family moved south to Florida and opened a restaurant in the Orlando area called...what else...the Palma Maria! One day I told my sister-in-law about it when I was visiting her in Castleberry. Lo and behold...the restaurant was 2 minutes from her home.

It has become a tradition that the last weekend in October is a girls' weekend where a bunch of my friends get together and go stay with my sister-in-law and attend the annual craft fair in Mt. Dora. My childhood friend, Nancy Fenstermacher, has flown down from Maryland three years in a row for the weekend. Friday evening is always spent at the Palma Maria for dinner and reminicing with the owners of the restaurant. This year my friend Marcie's daughter also attended dinner at the Palma as she lives in Orlando.

I cannot thank Anna, Maryann, Palma and Pete enough as they always make my friends feel like they knew them for years. We talk until we close down the place! Oh....they also make a mean peanut butter pie as well as everything else!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Red Hat Mama has Birthday!!Friday the 13th......scarey...............Today I celebrated another milestone. Here is a picture of my cake from the office. It was made by Selma Paulin for my boss' wife. (I'm pretending that is me on the cake.) Ha! She is definitely creative! The cake was delicious!!! You can also see that it was set up like a shrine as the boss' wife also had my "Red hat Mama" picture by the cake (it is in the right hand corner at the top). Thank you everyone.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Our baby boy turned 30!Daniel Jay Meneses, son of Elias and Doris Meneses turned 30 on October 2, 2006. Pictured above is Danny at age 1 celebrating his birthday with a cake his Uncle Jay made. We were in Tamqua, Pa. for his first birthday. The next picture is Danny on his second birthday with his football cake. The final picture is Danny on his 30th birthday with...yes...his football cake!

Our son, Daniel, competed in a Triathalon this past weekend. Here are a few pictures. This was his first event and is going to particpate in another in a few weeks. Danny will turn 30 on October 2nd and Mami and Papi are very proud of him. He did well by finishing in the top 1/2 considering it was his very first. WAY TO GO DANNY!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Italian Bakery - Tamaqua, Pa.In my tiny hometown of Tamaqua, Pa., the Italian Bakery is a place we all recall with fondness. Everyone in town scrambles to get their bread. Click on the link for a video regarding the bakery. My friend, Harry Everhart, sent me this link.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

GOOD FRIENDS LEAVE HOMESTEAD!We are sorry to see Chris and Joan Sfakianos leave Homestead for Delray Beach. Joan retired from teaching this past year and Chris is still working as a boat captain. We will definitely miss them but I know they will come back to visit. We wish them the best of luck! (Picture = Joan seated and me standing). I'm sorry I didn't have a good picture of Chris the Greek!

Nifty..nifty...look who's 50!Last evening, September 9, 2006, our family celebrated the 50th birthday of my husband, Elias's sister, Mariela (Magnolia). The surprise party was held at Danny and Maria Elena Meneses' home and I think, from the bottom picture with her brother Danny, Magnolia looks stunned!!! Magnolia is a nurse in Pediatrics at Jackson Hospital. She is always planning things for others and deserved this! All of the family pitched in and did their part to pull it together. Siblings Saulo flew in from California, Judith drove from Jacksonville, Noehmi from Maitland and Ruth from Mt. Dora. Other pictures are Jessie and her dad, Elias, dancing and our children, left to right, son-in-law Eddy with his wife Debi, Jessica and Danny with his girlfriend, Mandy.